Public invited to Island Transit birthday party

There probably won’t be some clown driving the bus, but some riders will be in for surprises when Island Transit celebrates its 30th birthday.

The official ceremony will be at 10 a.m., Dec. 1 at Harbor Station. There’s no word on cake.

Then in the afternoon, there will be a birthday party on the buses.

Island Transit is providing entertainment on Route 1, which has buses that run the spine of the island, in the form of musicians, comics and maybe even a clown.

There will also be plenty of door prizes from Whidbey Island businesses. In fact, Maribeth Crandell, the mobility specialist for Island Transit, says one will probably be given out every 15 minutes or so.

The fun will run from roughly 1:30-6 p.m.

Island Transit has been offering fare-free bus service since 1987. On the first day, buses carried 166 riders. Now the agency carries on average 755 people a day on the Route 1 alone. It also makes more than 300 paratransit trips a day and has more than 50 active vanpools.

“We take 5,000 cars a day off the road, provide safe and relaxing transportation and open up parking spaces for your business,” according to Island Transit.

• For more information, contact Crandell at cran
dell@islandtransit.org or 360-678-9536.